House Quietly Votes Lawmakers a Raise

With remarkable swiftness, the House of Representatives passed a $3,000 increase in the congressional salary of $133,600. On a vote of 231-192, and after a desultory debate in which the pay raise was never mentioned, lawmakers approved a routine Treasury Department spending bill shorn of a provision used routinely to block cost-of-living increases for lawmakers. “They’re pushing it through so they don’t have to talk about” the 2.3% raise, Rep. Linda Smith (R-Wash.) said of the GOP leadership. She and others later vowed to try to block the increase. “No one was trying to pull a fast one on anybody,” countered Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.), who steered the bill to passage.